. power struggle. a parliamentary election in iran is delayed as battle ground in a fight for control against the country's supreme leader and its president. iran is often viewed as a country united against the west. but this nation is divided on a number of fronts. the ongoing fight between conservatives is playing out many the latest parliamentary election. it pits president ahmadinejad against the supreme leader. we have a report from teheran. >> reporter: at this main ballot center in teheran many people have lined up to register their votes including women for the parliamentary election.

48 million iranians are eligible to vote in this election. they're choosing members of parliament. about 3,400 candidates are vying for 290 seats. the race is a contest between two rival conservative factions. on one side, president ahmadinejad and his loyalists. on the other, hard liners who support the supreme leader. they a pose any concession to western nations on iran's nuclear program. the supreme leader says the election is crucial because it comes at a time when the public should unite in the face of stronger pressure from western nations. he appears to be gaining the upper hand. people have been critical of president ahmadinejad because western sanctions are hurt the domestic economy. most prodemocracy reformists are

not running in this election. strict regulations by authorities are working to keep them out of politics. the overall results are expected to come out as early as this weekend. iran is expected to take an even tougher stance against western countries if conservative hard liners expand their hold on power. that would make resolving concerns about nuclear ambitions even more of a challenge. >> russian prime minister putin who is widely expected to win sunday's president election says he may be ready to discuss ways to settle a decade's long territorial dispute with japan. putin told foreign media in moscow on thursday that he wants to resolve the conflict in a way that's acceptable to both russia and japan. he said the two countries need to boost economic exchange and

make compromises so that the dispute seizes to be a major issue. the long running dispute involves four islands off japan's northern prefecture. japan has for decades been requesting the return of the islands that were seized by soviet troops immediately after world war ii. putin referred to the 1956 japan-soviet joint declaration. he pointed out the declaration said two of the islands will be handed over after a peace treaty is concluded. however, the russian prime minister said japan made no other territorial requests in the document suggesting he does not recognize the remaining two islands as open to discussion. a senior u.s. trade official say it's up to japan to decide whether it will join the

transpacific free trade agreement. wendy cutler says the united states won't pressure the country regarding its decision. the u.s. assistant trade representative made the comment on friday with an interview with nhk in tokyo. she spoke about a view in japan that the u.s. is forcing the country to join the transpacific partnership. she said the days of pressure are over and the u.s. is working with japan and a partner. >> we'll be look at japan's readiness as i said. that means concrete steps that japan can take to address concerns and japan's political commitment and willingness to participate in a negotiation of a high standards agreement. >> her remarks suggest that the u.s. hopes japan will take concrete steps to put all items on the negotiating table before joining former negotiations on the tpp, japan needs approval from all nine countries already in the takes. japan held a preliminary consultations with the u.s. twice last month. formal negotiations among the nine countries are now being held in melbourne, australia. next we go to bangkok to find out what's going on in the region. >> we start our bulletin in

indonesia where a major deal has been agreed to harness more of the nation's untapped geothermal energy. indonesia is one of the most volcanically active countries in the world. it also desperately needs more electricity to power its booming economy. the indonesian government inked a deal on friday with a corporation. the japanese trading house will form a joint venture with two other companies to construct and operate two geothermal power plants. the 1.5 billion dollar project on the island of sumatra should be completed in four years. together the plants will supply enough electricity to meet the needs of six million people. no geothermal power harnesses hot steam from underground mag marez voirs to generate electricity.

it's a relatively clean source of energy that emits little carbon die yox idea. the indonesian government is offering incentives to encourage investment. the deal includes a guarantee to buy electricity at a fixed price for 30 years. and more trading firms are expected to launch geothermal projects in indonesia over the coming years. the pakistani taliban has claimed responsibility for the murder of a chinese woman in pakistan earlier this week. the militant groups saying her killing was revenge for a crackdown on muslims in an area of western china. we have the report from islamabad. >> reporter: the chinese woman was killed on tuesday by a gunman on a motor bike. she was walking with a pakistani

man in the northwestern city of pescawar. the pakistani taliban is the biggest islamist extremist group in the country. a spokesperson for the group told nhk that it was responsible. local police could not verify that, but they suspect islamist extremists are to blame. the pakistani taliban spokesperson also told nhk that the group would continue to target chinese under the oppression of muslims in a region of china comes to an end. the region in western china has frequently been rocked by riots and demonstrations. chinese authorities blame muslim extremists seeking independence. china's crackdown there appears to be intensifying. a chinese foreign ministry spokesperson on friday condemned the attack. he demanded that pakistan use all its strength to arrest the murders and guarantee the safety of chinese citizens in pakistan. china suspects that separatists

are operating from a base across the border in pakistan. the latest incident may increase pressure on islamabad to tackle their presence on pakistani soil. >> and finally, thailand's growing mitd class is getting a taste for premium coffee. it's a market that has doubled in just ten years. we're not only talking about lattes and cappuccinos, but thai farmers now produce some of the world's most expensive coffee using beans processed in a very unusual way. our reporter went to saror the flavor. >> reporter: this coffee in central thailand offers a special cup of coffee that costs

more than $30 a cup. that's 20 times the normal price for coffee. the coffee has its origins in malasia. its unique taste attracts coffee lovers from all over thailand. >> translator: it is really different from ordinary coffee. >> reporter: the coffee owner is also a farmer who pioneered a production of coffee in thailand. he shared with us the secret of his success. >> reporter: you can't produce the coffee without civet. the 50 centimeter long wild animals have an appetite for coffee berries. they consume the fruit but leave

the coffee beans undigested in their droppings. on their journey through the animal's body, the beans react with enzymes to create a sweet flavor. one civet can only produce three kilograms of coffee beans a year. it takes this many beans to make one cup of coffee. he has struggled for years to perfect this high quality coffee. first, raising civet is a big challenge. the captive animals easily get sick away from their naturally wild habitat. he has been trying to improve the quality of his coffee to

make it better than the original from malasia. he sterilizes the beans under the strong thai sun for a whole month. indonesian makers wash them. but he believes doing that reduces the flavor. he also stores his beans for at least a year claiming the taste gets better over time. so this is the coffee made in thailand. it went through a five-year development process. let's taste it. strong aroma, it's not as bitter as regular coffee. it also appears very fresh. >> translator: even with some 50 civets we can only produce 100 kilograms of the beans each year. demand is much higher than supply right now. i hope people who want the world's best coffee to think of thailand every time.

>> reporter: and his dreams may be coming true. coffee companies from japan, hong kong and south korea have already shown interest in purchasing his precious coffee. the coffee made with a touch of love. >> i wouldn't mind trying some of that. that's going to wrap up our bulletin in bangkok. >> people in japan have been reading through a damning report on how officials mishandled the accident at the fukushima daiichi nuclear power plant. we gave you details earlier this week on an independent panel's findings. members of the private policy group rebuild japan initiative foundation spent more than six months interviewing 300 people including then prime minister

and american officials. they found the government and tokyo electric power company were ill prepared to deal with the crisis at fukushima. the investigation painted a clear picture of distress, a lack of communication and absolute confusion among the main players. the rebuild japan initiative foundation is a new group. a team of 30 professors, lawyers and journalists conducted the fukushima daiichi investigation. one of the panel's executive members joins me now. he's a lawyer. thank you so much for joining us tonight. >> thank you. >> you sat on the panel that heard directly from ministers and bureaucrats who dealt with the disaster firsthand. i know hindsight is always 20/20, what do you think was the biggest mistake they made? >> if i was to summarize the response, was crude, reactionary and lucky. a 14 metered tsunami, a full scale station blackout, none of the key parties were prepared at any level for something like that. we found out that a small group of politicians became overly

involved in the technical management of the onsite accident management. unfortunately, however, this political intervention was rarely effective. triggered confusion and at some times extremely dangerous. >> one of the things that surprised me is your team found out that leaders secretly considered evacuating tokyo as the worst case scenario. the seriousness of the situation was never made public and that caused other countries to lose trust in japan. what do you think japan should do to communicate in times of crisis like this? >> the japanese government failed miserably in their risk communication. the worst case scenario that you just mentioned was commissioned,

never disclosed and was completely deleted from all government records. the government was late to disclose speedi forecast of radiation. they only provided vague explanation on the risk of low level radiation exposure. the prime minister's government ministry lacked the fundamental capacity to make english anuncements. this constt pattern of reluctance to disclose crisis information resembles a pattern of elite panic syndrome. which is a pattern where government elites become afraid of disclosing crisis information out of fear that that disclosure itself might trigger a panic. >> your group panel is a private group. did you have -- in that respect, did you have a hard time conducting your investigation? >> when we talked with these interviewees many of them told us that they were providing their story not because out of an authority or a legal

obligation to do so, but because of a sense of responsibility to society and the global community. they also emphasized that they wanted someone independent, truly independent to conduct this investigation. >> some people in japan want to change the government's energy policy. what challenges do you think the government and the public need to overcome to push this debate forward? >> the first question now we need to ask yourself is now that we don't have the myth anywhere, can we start an honest dialogue on the risk of nuclear power. starting that conversation is the first step for us to make any decision or discussion on whether or not to conduct the use of nuclear energy in the future. >> he was one of the members of the investigative panel. thank you so much for being with us tonight and good luck with your mission.

>> thank you very much. >> now let's go to a special report from miagi one of the prefectures hardest hit by the march 11th disaster. these photos were taken in a devastated area soon after the disaster. this piece of wood comes from a pine tree uprootd and washed ashore by the tsunami. volunteers have turned the wood into musical instruments and organized a recital. locals will take part in the performance and they hope it will convey their gratitude to all of those who supported them. our reporter has more.

>> reporter: the musical director a tokyo resident organized this recital. more than 100 disaster survivors in the prefecture were participating in the show. >> translator: i want to encourage the survivors. i hope they look forward to seeing me each weekend for rehearsals. >> reporter: he started the idea of the musical event because he wanted to lift the spirits of one of the victims. this man lost his house to the tsunami and is now living in temporary housing. they have played in a band together for 30 years. the musical director invited his band mate to play guitar in the

upcoming recital. the new guitar is made from a pine tree salvaged from the tsunami. he asks his friend a guitar craftsman to make it. this guitar craftsman is his friend of 30 years. the lumber was too moist and moldy to craft. he dried it with care and completed his work in just four months. >> translator: i was moved that survivors thanked the people in the recital even though they've been forced to live a hard life. i thought i have to make guitars to make the survivors smile. >> reporter: he made the guitar hoping the survivors will

recover from the tsunami. it is designed to represent the tsunami hitting the shore and shows buildings and ship that were washed away. he made a second guitar from the same pine. he decorated this one with fishing boats and cherry blossoms. both symbolizing revival. he brings the guitars to the rehearsal. this is a song that rewrote praying for the resumption of local train service as well as a revival of local activities.

he listened to the hardships of all 116 participates and wrote lyrics and dialogue. >> translator: our house was wiped away except for the foundation. i lost my mother, brother and sister-in-law in tsunami. >> translator: my factory was swept away, too. >> reporter: 360,000 blankets were delivered to us from all over the world. thank you very much. >> translator: i don't have a

clear aim with regards to reconstruction, but i want to keep my head up and move forward with vigor. >> translator: the tsunami brought many hardships. but it also brought us a recital and friends, new personal relationships, new bonds will be built. and we'll become stronger and more important. >> the are recital will be held in tokyo on the 18th of this month. an earthquake that jolted a nation. a tsunami that swallowed a coastline, a nuclear plant that spiralled out of control. japan marks the first anniversary of the march 11th disaster. what lessons have been learned?

find out on "newsline" starting monday march 5th, then sunday join us at 2:00 p.m. japan time for lessons of march 1 19, one year on. >> we have weather up next. >> welcome back. we had a very wet weather today throughout the day here in tokyo. japan is going to be dominated with high pressure system on saturday so things are going to be clearer and much drier for actually just one day. it's going to be a short time and then towards the next few days we're going to be inviting this first spring storm it's going to be a very stormy event for the next few days in into early next week. patches of pink, you can see the locally heavy rain is going to be targeting much of the country especially the pacific side even some isolated thunderstorms are going to be popping up here.

and also the temperatures are going to be rising in wards early next week that and the heavy rain combined could bring us some critical risk of avalanche in the mountains. winds are also going to be very strong, too. concerning temperaturewise, for example, in tokyo sunday we're going to be looking at 9 degrees. leaping to 18 degrees on next tuesday. sounds like it's going to be a warm and nice kind of weather, but as i mentioned it will be very stormy. so it's going to be a very stormy event before we invite and welcome the beautiful springtime. elsewhere in eastern continental asia showers are still going to be lingering here. widespread and sometimes locally heavy into the weekend. additional 50 to 100 millimeters could be seen in some provinces.

southeastern coast of the philippines things are going to be continuously heavy rainwise. we have a low pressure system that is active that's going to be creeping. the southeastern coast will be looking at heavy rain. hong kong misty with 21 degrees. foggy here in bangkok at 34 degrees. and seoul 10 degrees. tokyo at 11 for our sat high. the americas, we had a much calmer day on thursday compared to what we had on wednesday. yet again another round of very severe activity especially many the mid western states. we have a potent winter weather system moving towards the great lakes dumping heavy snow which could pile up as much as 25 centimeters in some areas. winds are very strong up there. so blowing snow could reduce visibility. very dangerous for driving conditions. wherever you see this that's heavy snow. and wintry mix precipitation where you see this purple. out towards this area the red is the bull's-eye for the critical risk of tornado touch downs. not ruled out yet.

tennessee, kentucky, alabama and mississippi you're going to have to be aware of all these tornado outbreaks yet again. damaging winds, large hail, heavy rain are threats for friday. lots happening here. los angeles at 21. lots of sunshine. winds are going to be strong. santa ana winds are kicking in for you there. oklahoma city windy conditions at 14. new york cloudy at 7 degrees. let's head over to europe where snow is going to be piling up towards the east. that's going to be descending down towards northern turkey. another snowy condition there. towards the british isles and north some windy conditions. london at 13. lisbon and madrid a pair of 17 out towards the east still looking frigid in moscow at minus 1 and kiev at minus 2. here's the extended forecast.

that's our broadcast for this hour on "newsline." we'll be back with more news in half an hour. thank you for watching. bye-bye.

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